For some reason when I was younger I was not a fan of BBQ sauce. I’m not exactly sure why, but I think the sweetness on something savory really weirded me out. I will totally admit it was completely mental and stemmed a lot from me being a stubborn, picky eater. I do however have a distinct memory of visiting my aunt in Eastern Oregon and absolutely loving her sauce-less, seasoned ribs! So I wasn’t completely anti-BBQ food but just anything with BBQ sauce.

I’m not sure when exactly happened but there was a shift and I’m a huge fan of BBQ now. Amusingly one of my friends think I absolutely love BBQ and ribs and order them all the time (I think it’s been more coincidental I’ve ordered them a disproportionate amount when he’s been around). Not disproving that theory the two us went to dinner the other weekend at a new restaurant in Brickell- Brother Jimmy’s BBQ.

Brother Jimmy’s has been under construction for awhile in the middle of Mary Brickell Village and has caught a lot of attention. It has a number of popular locations in NYC and made the move south a couple months ago (seems to be happening with a lot of New York restaurants- Serendipity, Shake Shack, Rosa Mexicana, etc). Last Spring and throughout the Summer it threw a couple happy hours in the square of Mary Brickell while it was under construction. You got drink tickets for beer and food tickets for pulled pork sandwiches. Neither are things that I can have but I went more for company with my friends and did have a bite of just the pulled pork, but I don’t remember too much my thoughts at the time.

Being much more into BBQ now I wanted to check out Jimmy’s since I came back to Miami from Philly. Inside it’s surprisingly bigger than I expected pretty deep back and longer than it appears from the outside. The atmosphere is Southern BBQ joint with a lot of wood, some metal, and different country/Southern objects. There are a lot of TVs around so it’s definitely going on the list of go-to places along with Burger and Beer Joint for places to watch games.

A lot of things caught my interest on the menu including the BBQ nachos, wings, and spinach artichoke dip. What immediately I honed in on was the Jimmy’s Pick Pig, which for $25 you get to choose four options from wet ribs or Southern ribs, pulled pork, brisket, BBQ chicken or pulled chicken. At new BBQ places that’s definitely the way I like to go to try a bunch of different things and find my favorite. Usually it comes with an order of hush puppies and cole slaw on the side, but since I can’t have the former and don’t like the latter I got it with an order of fries. I chose both types of rib (wet and Southern), the pulled pork (always have to get that), and the pulled chicken (since I never had heard of it really).

Pulled pork is one of my favorite BBQ dishes and Jimmy’s was solid. It certainly would take care of a craving for pulled pork/if you were really in the mood for it. The pulled chicken was interesting and good. It’s a different texture from the pulled pork. It’s not as shredded as the pulled pork, but is a lot of smaller pieces of chicken breast smothered in BBQ sauce. If I was choosing between that and the regular BBQ chicken I’d definitely go for the pulled chicken because of the extra sauce and tenderness from being smaller pieces before being served (granted it all turns out the same in your stomach…). The ribs (two of each kind came) had a lot of meat on them and were both good. Not surprising my favorite was the seasoned Southern rib compared to the wet rib with the BBQ sauce, but I still enjoyed the wet rib!

Jimmy’s seems like a great place to go and watch games and if you’re looking for a convenient place in Brickell to grab some BBQ. If I go ahead I could actually see getting the platter again since I liked the variety a lot. If I stick to one dish I’d go for the pulled pork or the ribs. Luckily Jimmy’s has a special on Sundays that’s all-you-can-eat ribs and all the draft beer you can drink for $26. A similar deal but substitute wings for ribs is on Saturdays for $19. I can’t take advantage much of the all the beer you can drink, but the ribs deal certainly will be coming to mind on future Sundays.

If you’re looking for BBQ in Brickell or looking for a good place to watch a game Brother Jimmy’s BBQ is very convenient in Mary Brickell, with a good sports-watching atmosphere, and solid BBQ food.